Reciprocating jaw type nutcracker



fl 21, 1954 T. B. CONNOR RECIPROCATING JAW TYPE NUTCRACKER 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 25, 1951 INVENTOR.

BY Q4 I. I Attorney:

7'00 8. Connor Dec. 21, 1954 CONNOR 2,697,462

RECIPROCATING JAW TYPE NUTCRACKER Filed April 25, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Hg 3 F g 4 /42 Tod 8. Connor JNVENTOR.

United States Patent Ofi'ice 2,697,462 Patented Dec. 21, 1954RECIPROCATING JAW TYPE NUTCRACKER Tod B. Connor, Dallas, Tex.

Application April 25, 1951, Serial No. 222,781

3 Claims. (Cl. 146-16) This invention relates to an improved nutcrackeradapted primarily for household use, the nutcracker being readily usableas an ordinary household vise.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved device of theabove character which includes a standard made of two sections, one ofwhich being provided with a clamp in order to fasten to a supportingelement such as a table, the other of the sections being adjustable withrelation to the clamp section so that the upper part of the vise may beadjusted to a convenient angle for operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cantilever beam at theupper end of the standard which has two jaws on it, one being screwoperated for sliding movement on the beam and the other being relativelyfixed on the beam after it is adjusted in selected positions inaccordance with the preogative of the user of the device.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved and novelpassage assembly in one of the jaws of the device to provide a means ofreadily discharging nut shells, the passage assembly including alongitudinal passage which opens into the orifice of one of the faceplates and a transverse passage which is in communication with thelongitudinal passage so that the shells may be easily emptied.

Other objects and features of importance will become apparent infollowing the description of the illustrated forms of the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of the device showing it applied to aconvenient support;

Figure 2 is a top view of the structure in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 33 ofFigure 1;

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 1;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of one of the jaws;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of one of the jaw face plates, and

Figure 8 is a modification of the face plate which is adapted primarilyfor use as a part of a standard vise, that is, when the device does notfunction as a nutcracker.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown a suitable support 10 whichmay be a table or the like. A standard 12 is connected to this support,the standard including a lower section 14 and an upper section 16, thefirst or lower section being provided with a clamp while the second orupper section has a laterally extending cantilever beam 18 fixed theretoeither by casting or other standard means. The clamp consists of a lowerarm 20 adapted to be located below the support 10 and an upper arm 22adapted to be located above the support 10, the lower arm being providedwith a standard screw 24 and operating handle 26 for it whereby thebearing plate 28 on the inner end of the screw is capable of beingpressed firmly against the bottom surface of the support 10 and theinner surface of the upper plate correspondingly resting on the uppersurface of the support 10.

In order to attach the second section 16 to the first section 14, thereis a stud 29 rising from the center part of the arm 22 and passingthrough an opening 30 in the center part of a plate 32 which extendslaterally from the second section 16. There is a wing nut 34 adapted tobear against a washer 36 or directly against the top surface of theplate 32 so that upon tightening the nut 34 the plate 32 may befrictionally against the upper surface of the arm 22 thereby holding thesecond section 16 in an adjusted position with respect to the firstsection 14.

There is an internally threaded bore 38 arranged parallel to the beam18, this internally threaded bore accommodating a screw 40 which has anoperating handle 42 at its outer end. The inner end of the screw isprovided with a disc located in a recess 46 which is formed in onesurface of the substantially rectangular jaw 48. A plate 50 has anopening in it in which the inner non-threaded end of the screw 40 isdisposed in order to hold the screw axially immovable with respect tothe jaw 48 but rotatable with respect to the jaw. The plate 50 is heldon the jaw 48 by standard means, as screws. Accordingly, upon rotationof the screw 40, the jaw 48 is slid axially of the beam.

18 corresponding to the axial movement of the screw 40.

The beam 18 is preferably rectangular in cross section and the jaw 48 isprovided with a longitudinal substantially rectangular in cross sectionpassageway 52 in which the beam 18 is disposed. By virtue of thisconstruction, the jaw 48 is slidably located on the beam. There is asecond jaw 54 which is also provided with a longitudinal substantiallyrectangular in cross section passageway 56 which is inserted on the beam18 thereby mounting the second jaw in such a way that it is capable ofsliding axially of the beam. However, there is a means of fastening thesecond jaw 54 on the beam 18 in selected positions axially of the beam.This means comprises a headed bolt 58 adapted to pass through any one ofthe number of transverse openings 60 provided in a spaced relationshipin the beam 18. The bolt has threads on its free end for receiving aninternally threaded nut 62 which bears against the second jaw 54.

The first jaw 48 has a transverse passage 76 extending through it and alongitudinal passage 78 in communication therewith. This longitudinalpassage tapers from the inner surface of the jaw outwardly to ward thetransverse passage 76 (Figure l) and the two passages cooperate to forma means of discharging nut shells after nuts, as the pecans 80, arecracked. The jaw 54 is provided with a passage 82, this passage beingsubstantially in the shape of a frustrum of a cone with the smallerdiameter portion thereof being at the inner surface of the jaw 54, thatis, the surface which confronts the surface of the jaw 48 through whichthe passage 78 opens. These confronting surfaces of the jaws 48 and 54are provided with a means of holding releasably plates 84 or plates 86.This specific means comprises a pair of apertures 88 in each jawconfronting surface to accommodate the resilient lugs 90 of the plates84 or the resilient lugs 92 of the plates 86. The plates 84 areillustrated as being substantially circular although other shapes willsuflice, and the plates 84 are provided with central orifices 94 inorder to accommodate the ends of the nut 80 or other types of nuts. Theplates 84 are provided with cutting edges 96 on opposing faces of theplates and about the orifice 94. The cutting edges are produced bybeveling or tapering the orifices 94 away from the cutting edges. Toapply the plates 84, it is only necessary to press the resilient lugs,which may be spring steel or the like, into the apertures 88. To removethem, the plates 84 are simply pried from the jaws 48 and 54.

In order to use the device as a household vise, the plates 86 aresubstituted for the plates 84. The plates 86 preferably comprise anglemembers having substantially rectangular legs 99 and 100 joined togetherat right angles. Although this type of plate is preferable so that amplebearing surface for the plates 86 is provided, other shapes of platesmay be used. It should also be understood that the passages behind theorifices would be made large enough to accommodate the largest nut shellends, however, each device will be supplied with several orifice plates,similar to plates 84, each having a dilferent diameter orifice, in orderto accommodate different size pecans.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new 1s:

1. A nutcracker comprising a support having a beam extending laterallytherefrom, a pair of jaws adjustably mounted on said beam, meansadjustably interconnecting said beam and one of said jaws adjacent anoutward portion of said beam, adjusting means interconnecting the otherof said jaws and said support, said jaws having opposed faces and havingaligned openings, said openings merging into passages increasing incross sectional area inwardly of said faces, one of said jaws having apassage therethrough intersecting its first mentioned passage, said jawshaving on their opposed faces plates having opposed faces, one of saidfaces of each plate being in contact with a jaw face, said plates havingopenings therethrough in register with the openings in said jaws andsaid openings of said plates defining with said opposite faces cuttingedges, whereby when a nut is placed with its ends in said openings itsshell will be cut and then crushed to free its meat.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein said jaws are slidable on saidbeam, said adjustably interconnecting means including said beam having aplurality of longitudinally spaced apertures therethrough, said one ofsaid jaws having an aperture therethrough adapted to register with aselected beam aperture whereby the jaw may be locked to the beam uponthe insertion of a fastener through the aligned apertures.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein said plates have resilient lugsprojecting from the jaw face contacting faces thereof, said opposedfaces of said jaws having recesses opening thereinto within which saidlugs frictionally seat.

References Cited in the file of this patent Number UNITED STATES PATENTSName Date Bernard June 23, 1891 Perron et a1 Dec. 12, 1905 Harris Feb.11, 1913 Shields Sept. 22, 1914 Morse Apr. 20, 1915 Marsh Mar. 20, 1917Black May 29, 1917 Spencer Feb. 5, 1918 Tu'rm'es Dec. 30, 1924 RameySept. 29, 1925 Haver Aug. 17, 1926 Hubby July 7, 1931 Stowell May 22,1934 LaFerney June 29, 1937 Rhodes Apr. 11, 1939 Settle May 9, 1939Lotspei'ch Apr. 18, 1944 Scranton Dec. 25, 1945 Mettler Aug. 30, 1949

